Monthly Archives: May 2013

Next month, the U.S Supreme Court, in it wisdom, may pass judgment on the age-old definition of marriage. Until very recently, marriage has universally been deemed to require an opposite sex component, but the Court may overturn this definition. The fact that the Supreme Court is even considering such a change represents, for me, the reductio ad absurdum of American constitutional law jurisprudence. The fact that, until very recently, marriage »

In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Eric Holder was asked whether the Justice Department could prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. This was his answer: In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material — this is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy. Later, the Department of Justice disclosed that Holder had »

I forget which Chicago-school economist it was (probably it was Sam Peltzman) who once suggested that the most effective way to cut down on automobile accidents would be to place a sharp, eight-inch knife on the steering wheel of every car. Instead, we got mandates for seat belts and air bags. Peltzman’s research showed that in the early years people with seat belts suffered fewer injuries in accidents, but . »

This morning the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out an email commenting on Michele Bachmann’s announcement that she will not run again in 2014. The email employed the breezy, low-rent tone that the Democrats have perfected. You wonder who writes these things; is it a 22-year-old slacker, or is there some middle-aged guy who gets paid millions to impersonate one? The emails subject heading is “this is CRAZY.” That capitalization »

The other day, Nancy Pelosi was defending the Obama administration’s alleged ignorance of the IRS’s mistreatment of conservative organizations. Noting the involvement of the Cincinnati IRS office, Pelosi asked, rhetorically, whether John Boehner, whose district isn’t far from that office, should have known about the misconduct. It’s a fair point, but why stop with Boehner? Marvin Lewis coaches the Cincinnati Bengals. Can he be expected to know what’s going on »

So Obama thinks the problem of terrorism has receded to pre-9/11 levels and we can call the whole thing off. Won’t be long now before the New York Times re-runs the Larry Johnson article from July 2001, “The Declining Terrorist Threat,” which confidently proclaimed: Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism. They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United States and that it is becoming »

To my knowledge, Karl Rove was the first commentator to focus attention on a massive problem from which even Eric (“Nine Lives”) Holder may not be able to escape. Two weeks ago, testifying under oath before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder was asked whether the Justice Department could prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. His response (emphasis added) was: In regard to potential prosecution of the press for »

For some reason, the MSM wants to create suspense over the fate of the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill in the Senate. Much was made, for example, of Sen. Menendez’s statement on Univision that supporters didn’t yet have the 60 votes. But Harry Reid knows that the votes are there. “I think we have 60 votes,” the Majority Leader says. “Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats. I think the most I’ll »

Minnesota Sixth District Rep. Michele Bachmann has announced that she will not seek reelection in 2014. The Star Tribune, which has breathlessly promoted her opponents and provided whatever negative publicity it could about her, has posted the video of Michele’s announcement along with a brief post. The New York Times covers her announcement here and the Washington Post covers it here. Michele turned herself into a national figure, first as »

Early this year, the U.S. economy went over half of a fiscal cliff or more — a supposedly draconian sequester plus some tax increases, albeit not the across-the-board hike that formed the full cliff. From all that appears, the U.S. economy has lived to tell about it. Neil Irwin and Ylan Q. Mui of the Washington Post rehearse some of the good news: Housing prices rose faster over the past »

Tonight AM 1280 the Patriot, the station on which we formerly had our local radio show, sponsored an event called “Taking Back the Tundra,” featuring Hugh Hewitt. In addition to Hugh, the event featured a reunion of the original Northern Alliance Radio Network: Scott and I, Mitch Berg, Ed Morrissey, Chad Doughty, Brian Ward, King Baniain and James Lileks all participated. The event, like most Patriot programs, was attended by »

We wrote here about the Obamacare “navigators” — a cadre of community organizer types whose task will be to steer the uninsured into the insurance market. Young, healthy people represent a key group in need of being steered, inasmuch as Obamacare is predicated on inducing such folks into the insurance market to subsidize older, not-so-healthy people. But purchasing insurance may not be the best cost-benefit option for the young and »

Byron York reports that Marco Rubio’s support for “comprehensive immigration reform” is seriously harming his standing with Iowa Republicans. Byron bases this conclusion on responses he received from leading Iowa Republicans to an email that asked a few general questions about the GOP field, without mentioning immigration. The responses were “all about immigration, and nearly all negative.” GOP State Central Committee member Jamie Johnson said: Over the last three months, »

When you research and assemble a long account of any subject, as I did with my two-volume Age of Reagan project, you make unexpected discoveries along the way. Two in particular stand out: first, that the CIA is mostly a bunch a blundering boobs (more on this some other time perhaps), and second, that Bob Dole is a total heel. That’s why I long ago came refer to him as »

In his chronically disingenuous media appearances on behalf of amnesty, Marco Rubio always insists that he wants to improve the Schumer-Rubio bill. Rubio has to say this to retain credibility among conservatives who doubt the government’s ability and willingness to enforce all but the most airtight border security measures — a doubt that Rubio purports to share. Thus, Rubio pledges that he is open to, and even desirous of, sensible »

Eric Holder doesn’t need to be as creative as Cole Porter in expressing regrets. He’s got Daniel Klaidman doing public relations for him in the risible Daily Beast article “Holder’s regrets and repairs.” Klaidman gives a source close to Holder anonymity in order to deliver a limp noodle such as this: As one of Holder’s advisers put it, the message was: “Look we get it. We understand why this is »